CLUB VOWS TO TACKLE DRUG ABUSE

The huge Liverpool nightclub Cream has been given five months to tackle
drug abuse or face closure.

Managers, who admit that the club has a serious drug problem, have promised
action to clear it of pushers. All customers will be frisked for drugs;
there will be undercover opertions to bar pushers; police will make regular
covert sweeps for drugs; there will be closed circuit TV surveillance for
drug abuse; and no one will be admitted after 1am.

Police opposed renewal of Cream's entertainments licence, but the city
council granted it a reprieve until October 31 after its managing director,
James Barton, agreed to stringent controls.

Last July a tourism officer, Liz Wood, died after taking ecstasy at the
club, which can hold 3,100 customers.